I was 27 when I landed an early-morning anchor job at the ABC News affiliate in Dallas. Each weekday, I set my alarm for 2:30 a.m., showered, put on makeup and dressed as though I were competing in a fashion show.

Then I jumped into the driver's seat of my blue Honda Accord and sped south down the highway.

The biggest impediment to my success as a morning news anchor wasn't the hours, my wardrobe or my on-air delivery. It was the enemy next door.

My next-door neighbour had a Yorkshire terrier that barked incessantly in the evenings, running along the chain-link fence just outside my bedroom window.

To get enough sleep to function in my job, I was under the covers with lights out no later than 8 p.m.

I asked my neighbour to please take her dog inside for the night. She ignored my request.

Morning after morning, I dragged myself out of bed, smeared concealer under my eyes and guzzled coffee to make up for lost sleep.

My resentment boiled like hot lava.

How could an eight-pound dog sabotage my best efforts to excel in a competitive television market?

I lay in bed at night listening to the dog's shrill bark and imagined all the ways I could silence it.

It wasn't pretty.

When I began to fantasize about lacing a juicy steak with poison and dropping it over the fence, my dark passion caught me by surprise.

Who was I becoming?

This woman who sang in church on Sundays, and on Mondays dreamed up ways to hurt her neighbour's pet.

Instead of silencing the Yorkie, my husband and I filed a noise complaint with the city.

The court set a hearing date for Dec. 24.

My neighbour, in retaliation, baited a trap on her property with cat food, lured my tabby over the fence and sent him to the pound.

By the time my husband's parents arrived for their Christmastime visit, I was obsessed.

My in-laws were my heroes and spiritual mentors, so I asked them what they would do about the dog.

"If you're going to be a follower of Jesus," my father-in-law said, "you'll love your enemy, not sue her."

He was a man who had suffered in a Japanese prisoner of war camp during World War II and had forgiven his brutal captors.

Over the years I had seen him epitomize what it looked like to "love your neighbour as yourself."

As Christmas approached, I had to choose which voice would control my next move: the contemptuous one that demonized a neighbour or the empathetic and self-sacrificing one being seriously tested.

I walked reluctantly across the driveway dividing our houses, climbed the front steps and knocked on her door.

My neighbor faced me with a steely grimace. Continue reading

• Image: A Quiet Refuge

But 90-year-old Arnold Abbott, who runs the Love Thy Neighbour organisation, has vowed to continue the beachfront feedings at Fort Lauderdale.

Fort Lauderdale's city authority passed a new ordinance last month which tightens restrictions on the homeless as a way to move them from public parks and streets.

Mr Abbott was cited for violating the ordinance on November 2 at a park and again last Wednesday at the beach.

"We can feed 200 people in 45 minutes," Mr Abbott said on Sunday in a live television broadcast in which he faced off with city mayor Jack Seiler.

Penalties for violating the ordinance include up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine.

While Mr Abbott said he would move his feeding operations on Sundays to a local church, he vowed to continue the Wednesday beachfront feedings.

"It's a beautiful thing to watch," said Mr Abbott of the beach feedings.

"It's the most gorgeous place. They enjoy the beach, with the same comforts as anyone else.

"So we feel very strongly that that's important."

A World War II veteran, Mr Abbott has several programmes, including a culinary school to train the homeless and help find them jobs in local kitchens.

He started this work 23 years ago to honour his late wife.

Mayor Seiler said he thinks Mr Abbott and pastors Dwayne Black and Mark Sims have good intentions, but the city can't discriminate in enforcing the law.

He stressed that the city was working with local charities to help serve the homeless through indoor feedings and programmes that get them medical care and long-term help.

"The parks have just been overrun and were inaccessible to locals and businesses," Mr Seiler said.

Fort Lauderdale is the latest of 30 US cities in the last two years to pass restrictions on feeding homeless people in public places.

Harsh winters have driven homeless US people south, especially to Florida.

In 1999, Mr Abbott won a legal battle over feeding the homeless.

He said he is prepared to go to court again.

Sources

• Daily Mail
• Sun-Sentinal
• Image: ABC